Category Archives: Mapping Strategy

Definition of a leadership system: The system that connects leaders, and organizes the elements they control with critical relationships, which will produce a desired outcome.

Every organization has a leadership system. It might be a good one or a bad one, but there is a leadership system built into every organization.

In her book, Thinking in Systems, author Donella Meadows writes: “A system is an interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way that achieves something. If you look at that definition closely for a minute, you can see that a system must consist of three kinds of things: elements, interconnections, and a function or purpose.”

A leadership system, therefore, is the theory of systems applied to leadership. Using Meadows definition any leadership system is going to exhibit three component parts – elements, interconnections, and function or purpose.

Elements of a Leadership System can be:
• The leader;
• Organizational Mission;
• The current system;
• The unique product or service being provided; and
• Governance including the regulatory environment.

Interconnections (critical relationships) of a Leadership System can include:
• Reporting structure;
• Core business processes; and
• Customer requirements.

Function or Purpose of a Leadership System may include:
• The customer;
• The way in which the customer will be served; and
• Plan on execution of organizational mission.

Though not immediately recognized, every organization of any size has a leadership system. The question is, does it work? As others, have noted, systems have a way of driving behavior that is not intended. This is probably at least one answer as to why a leader can go from one organization and produce transformational improvement and go to another organization and fail miserably.

In his book, The Power of Habits, author Charles Duhigg tells the story of the Rhode Island Hospital. At the time, it was a leading educational hospital and Level 1 Trauma Center. Its intensive care unit was considered one of the best in the country. It was also a place of feudal fights where nurses were pitted against surgeons and usually lost the battle. Dhuigg tells the true story of an elderly man who was brought in with a Subdural Hematoma. Immediate surgery was necessary. Only the surgeon, ignoring input from nurses in the OR operated on the wrong side of the man’s head. He eventually died. The man was not the last. Within a few months, others died to simple system procedural failure.

The good news is that changes were made. While it might be easy to say, they implemented check lists and other procedural changes, the reality is that they challenged, broke and then changed the entire leadership system. The result was a dramatic drop in errors and a prestigious award for Critical Nursing. Where the old leadership system put the surgeon at the top of the pyramid with virtual unquestionable authority, the new system empowered everyone around the care of the patient. Dhuigg concludes with an example of a routine surgery performed by an experienced and well trained surgeon. Before he started he went through a check list but missed a minor point. In response, the youngest and least experienced nurse pointed out the error which was welcomed by the surgeon.

A leadership system, therefore, is the system that connects leaders, and organizes the elements they control with the critical relationships to produce the desired outcome. With the example of Rhode Island Hospital and the old system, surgeons had enormous and even dictatorial power, which often came at the expense of the nurses. Under the new system, the surgeons (leaders) recognized and organized the nurses as both a critical element and relationship in the care of a patient (desired outcome). The perspective and input of nurses become valuable relationship that would make the whole greater than skill of the individual parts. The result was more intellectual and practical care given to the patient and not less. It was not a matter of surgeons winning or losing power and control. It was the patient receiving the best possible care.

Recently, I did an assessment for an administrative unit of a modest sized urban school district. Because one of my core beliefs is that mission is sacred, I will often ask leaders if they can tell me their mission. If they can articulate their mission, there is a high probability that they have a leadership system that has been designed around mission. If they cannot articulate their mission, their leadership system is on default – leaders tell followers what to do. There is no clearly defined purpose of their leadership system.

Although it was posted clearly, of the 100 or more people I interviewed, including the Assistant Director of Communications who help craft the statement, not one could articulate the District’s mission. The most telling response was from a long time elementary school principal. When asked about the District’s mission, his response was “I don’t know, get kids ready for college I guess”.

It is unfortunate when organizations that exist to serve young people’s education, or nonprofits serving the most vulnerable, or government agencies protecting the health and physical safety of its citizens cannot articulate a clear and simple mission. We find that invariably, when mission is not clearly defined and understood, that individual leaders, managers, and front line staff – pick their own.
We have a growing conviction that our approach to leadership is deeply flawed. In John Maxwell’s book, 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, there is a subtitle: follow them and people will follow you. John Maxwell is as good as any writer on leadership. His work is some of the best there is. But the subtitle may just point out the flaw in our thinking on leadership – it is not about gathering more staff, more resources and more power (more followership). Leadership is about a system and not about individuals. This is not to say that leadership is never about an individual man, woman or child standing tall and leading the charge. But in our view, leadership is as more about a system than about an individual. And like any system, there are requirements that will cause the system to deliver customer value.
Therefore, like a software system, a circulatory system or a mechanical system the requirements of the system must be identified, documented and measured. This starts with mission, and documenting the leadership system that will best execute on mission. This is opposite of the normal pattern. All too often, leaders determine their mission, when in reality the mission should determine the leaders. The mission of the US Marine Corp determines the leadership system. It has determine this over 200 years of experience. The mission comes first. In many other organizations, mission comes second, after the leaders figure out what it should be.

At Praxis Solutions we strongly believe in the value of a strategy map. The chief reason is that it is – visual. Most of us are visual learners. We feel, think, respond to and remember pictures and stories. “Pictures are worth thousand words”. This means one well-crafted picture can tell the story behind three pages of text. Time and again we see the power of a visual representation of strategy.
However, there is another important value in a strategy map – operational alignment. A strategy map visually tells the story of a leadership system and how the system is aligned with mission. In addition, a strategy map shows the connection between budgets and the execution of vision. Processes become aligned around meeting customer requirements instead of asking customers to bend to the requirements of the process. Leadership knows what they are supposed to produce rather than the default command and control.

Aligning Leadership

We recently finished building a strategy map for a rural healthcare organization. An additional phase included the development of a formal leadership system. This too is coming together well. But what we have found that is just stunning is this – the leadership model is perfectly aligned with process outcomes. For example, the strategy map identifies two process outcomes:
1. Safe & coordinated care; and
2. Efficient systems.
Without consulting or directing the outcome of the leadership model we are seeing that two primary results of their leadership system are – safe & coordinated care and efficient system. In other words, there is a recognized cause and effect relationship between what leaders do and the twin goals of safe & coordinated care and efficient systems. As one of the senior executives stated: “I have always been promoted because I was good at being a nurse, but when they put the title of “leader” on me, I was not at all sure what I was supposed do. Now I know”.
This is a powerful statement because most leadership training is focused on the individual leader acquiring organizational power and influence. In this model the role of the leader is to direct subordinates to do her bidding. This understanding of leadership is flipped on its head. The role of the leader is now to create the environment where staff treat patient safety and the coordination of their care as the highest priority. Mindlessly doing what the boss says no longer works. There are clear and unambiguous goals to reach. Furthermore, these objectives are highly measurable so if the targets are not being met, who is responsible – leadership. They cannot play the blame game.

There is a fundamental difference between developing leaders and developing a leadership system. Ideally, leadership development should be based on the requirements of a leadership system that has been designed to execute organizational mission.

Not long ago, a nephew returned home from his 13 week United States Marine basic training. Within a week, he had passed the grueling 54 hour final test of his training known as the crucible, turned 20 years old, and had become a newly minted US. Marine Corp Private. He was a member of one of the most elite fighting force in the world. Upon his return, I asked him about what he had learned about leadership. I was expecting to hear reflections of his experiences and observations of acts of selfless courage. Instead, he spouted off an acronym – JJDIDTIEBUCKLE. He had memorized the acronym and its meaning as part of his training. He knew what every letter meant but I had strong doubts that he had learned anything at all about leadership. He had memorized the dictionary, as the US Marine Corps produces it, but had he learned anything tangible about leadership during his 13 weeks of basic training? I was disappointed.
However, upon further reflection, I realized he had learned a great deal about leadership. Even as a brand-new Marine with the rank of private, he had learned the fundamental basics of the Marine Corp system of leadership. In contrast, how many graduates with basic degrees in business enter their first entry level job and are given the fundamentals of their organizations system of leadership? Do the great business enterprises of our day provide their entry level employees the basics of a unique system of leadership – assuming they have one? More to the point, does Microsoft, Amazon, Federal Express, Exon, Boeing, Walmart, or Volkswagen give their lowest level hires a systematic way of looking at leadership in their on-boarding and initial training? Something tells me no. The larger question: do they even have one? Again, something tells me no.
The U.S. Marine Corp is clearly one of the elite organizations in the world given their mission. Yet they give their newest hires, even before they are officially hired, the keys to the executive suite. They teach every on one of them what is expected of a leader and how they are to lead. They have reduced the idea of leadership to a clearly defined system. Something tells me this is the next generation of leadership thought – leadership as a system.
Just in case anyone is interested. The following is the system of leadership as defined by the United States Marine Corp. A leader must exhibit the following:
• Justice,
• Judgment,
• Dependability,
• Initiative,
• Decisiveness,
• Tact,
• Integrity,
• Endurance,
• Bearing,
• Unselfishness,
• Courage,
• Knowledge,
• Loyalty, and
• Enthusiasm

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